Understanding Needs Assessment And Improving Organizational Effectiveness In The Hotel Industry

Issues in Chosen Hotel Identified in Assignment 1

How Do Improving Effectiveness Work Organizations?

This task is a continuation of “assignment 1” which had found a few of issues on the chosen hotel. The chosen assignment had kept its studies confined just to Customer Service and Quality of Service and had tried to find out a few of problems in the chosen hotel. The study has found that Total Quality Management (TQM) must be implemented in the chosen hotel to improve its management capability. The use of six-sigma was also suggested for the chosen hotel because the prescribed approach is data-driven and follows a systematic methodology to identify the hidden issues. Most importantly, the importance of learning process was also being highlighted in the previous assignment, so that, the needs for training and development could be established.

The question is about understanding a needs assessment for training. It is of primary importance to understand what the concept of needs assessment is. Needs assessment means understanding the needs for assessing the performance, so that, weaknesses could be identified. The need to assess the performance is a probable fact when some serious damage to the overall operational performance is observed. The damage can be identified with several processes like identifying the performance gaps with the help of company’s annual reports of different years (Rummler & Brache, 2012). Two or three years of annual reports can provide the sufficient evidence of the performance gaps.

Performance gap can be a serious threat to a sustainable business. The severity of threats varies with the kind of industry and the reputation of the organization. Contemporary business is known for extreme competition. Nevertheless, there are some factors that really affect the competition. Performance gap analysis is done to identify such factors only (Dale, 2015). In case of the chosen hotel in the “assignment 1”, Customer Service and Service Quality were identified as the two most important factors that affect the competition. The level of competition in the hotel industry is much higher than the other industries. There are ample reasons for it like the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes and the industry rivalry. International hotel chains and also the domestic chains do enter the different markets. Hence, the number of hotels in one specific area gets increased and thereby, elevates the competition as well. Airbnb can be seen as a potential substitute for hotels which has affected the performance of hotel industry (Zervas, Proserpio & Byers, 2017). Customers have started to think of options provided by Airbnb which is a direct loss for hotels. Industry rivalry is very high due to the ease of entry in the industry and also the threat of substitutes.

Need for Total Quality Management and Six-Sigma

It is imperative in such circumstances that hotels conduct a need analysis for training. The analysis gives the valuable findings that produce sufficient evidence needed to be submitted as a proposal to establish the importance of training. These are exactly the reasons why the chosen hotel in the previous assignment must be analyzed to check the needs for training. The previous assignment has given an emphasis on implementing the Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six-Sigma. TQM is used when there are some quality related issues. On the other hand, Six-Sigma is applied when some performance related gaps are suspected and creates a need to identify it. Six-Sigma helps to identify the hidden gaps. Training is required in the chosen hotel for implementing and executing the TQM. This is also required for conducting the Sis-Sigma test, so that, hidden issues could be identified (Oakland, 2014).

In the previous assignment, the one method chosen as to conduct the needs assessment is Six-Sigma. Six-Sigma can be defined as a set of techniques and tools that helps to identify the hidden performance related gaps. It follows a set of methods mainly the empirical and statistical methods and uses a data set needed to identify the gaps. People resources are created to support the conduction process. They are also trained, so that, they could effectively run or conduct the process (Furterer, 2016). However, in this assignment, a different method for ‘needs assessment’ can be used. The method is popularly known as the ‘needs chain model’ which can be used at the three different levels such as Organisation Level, Objectivity Level and Individual Level. In context of the chosen issue in the selected case study hotel, “Organisational Level” appears as the most appropriate method for needs assessment (Viglione, Rudes & Taxman, 2015). The method can further be divided into numbers of needs such as the follows:

• Instrument needs – Training is the most feasible way for the chosen issue.
• Unconscious needs – This can be of various types like tasks clarity, work consistency and management capability.
• Conscious needs – Learning
• Performance needs – Sales Volume

The different types of needs identified from the “Organisational Level” method is effectively attached to the training needs (Viglione, Rudes & Taxman, 2015). This can produce or establish a much-needed learning environment in the case study hotel; however, few steps must be followed in order to keep the process effectively implemented at the organisational level. Such steps are as mentioned below (Yaduvanshi & Sharma, 2017):

Instrument Needs: The first assignment has chosen a hotel that has identified a few problems at the organisational level like the Customer Service and the Quality of Service. These two factors were identified as causing the larger destruction to the business performance of the case study hotel. The chosen hotel has been losing its customers and was not able to retain them as well. The use of Six-Sigma had helped in the first assignment to identify the performance gap which is the customer service and the quality of product (Tenera & Pinto, 2014). The needs assessment method chosen for this assignment identifies the needs for training as the ‘instrument needs’ to mitigate the identified performance gap (Ford, 2014).

Importance of Learning and Training

Unconscious Needs: This stage is used to quantify the problem. It means identifying the level of severity. Sometimes this may not be a big issue and can be mitigated with just a minimal change in the process. However, this may not be feasible all the time. Some issues can really be bigger and must be countered with the effective training process (McFadden, Lee & Gowen III, 2015). Hence, training can help to bring the much-needed ‘conscious needs’ which is to promote the work-consistency, management transparency and work clarity (Manuti et al., 2015).

Conscious Needs: This identifies the causes of the problem. It helps in conducting an elaborated analysis of the identified problem. This is necessary also to identify the areas of improvement (Sung & Choi, 2014). Hence, learning is what missing at the case study organisational level and can only be promoted or supplied through the effective training processes (Sung & Choi, 2014).

Performance Needs: In this stage, the process reaches with clear identification of the areas of improvement. The improvement in the chosen hotel will be done with the help of the recommended Total Quality Management (TQM) in the first assignment. The selected people will be trained on the essentials of TQM, so that, they could take care of the process (Cetindere, Duran & Yetisen, 2015). However, there is a need for identifying the importance of ‘performance needs’, so that, effective training processes are being implemented at the regular basis. Performance is required to attain the healthy market shares and the incrementing product sales. The solution identified for the purpose must be maintained (Nikolova et al., 2014). The maintenance can be done effectively with the help of TQM. Moreover, the trained employees especially being trained on the essentials of TQM will take care of the post-training process. This will also be advisable to continually deploy Six-Sigma to further identify the hidden issues and reduce the performance related gaps (Kahreh, Shirmohammadi & Kahreh, 2014).

The needs assessment process as discussed earlier in regards to the chosen hotel must be supported by the effective training process. The training needs can be divided into two types such as the stage that identifies the issue and the stage which promotes the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). The first stage in the chosen hotel was to identify the issue which is causing them to lose the competition. The analysis in the first assignment was kept focussed on customer service and the service quality. These were the two factors that had been identified to have done the major destruction. These two factors, on the other hand, are extremely important from the perspective of the hotel industry. Hotels must have a good standard of customer service and also the service quality, so that, it edged past the other competitors. Hence, there was an urgent need to identify what has caused to hamper the quality of service. This is for such reason the use of “Needs chain model” was suggested. Six-Sigma does help to identify the possible areas for improvement (Topalovi?, 2015).  

Performance Gap Analysis in the Hotel Industry

In the second stage when the issues were being identified, it had required the utilization of Total Quality Management (TQM) as being implemented in the process. The necessity was being identified in the first assignment. TQM is not just a one-time solution. It is rather a permanent process which is required on a regular basis, so that, managing capabilities of the firm are enhanced. The managing capabilities are utterly required in the hotel industry because there is immense competition in the industry. The competition is getting defined with the entrance of new competitors and also the substitutes. The entrance of Airbnb has really impacted the market (Dr?gan, Ivana & Arba, 2014). Customers have proved that this is a potential option. This means the hotel industry now has competition from Airbnb, hotels and other substitutes also. This is for such reasons quality service is of utter importance in hotels. The use and application of TQM can really help to reduce the issue and raise the performance standard. It works systematically and follows the certain rules governed by seven stages or quality principles like customer focus, people engagement, leadership, improvement, process approach, relationship management and evidence-based decision-making (Duran, Çetindere & ?ahan, 2014). The seven principles represent a larger area which must be taken care with effective strategies which are never possible or feasible without a proper and systematic training program. People should know their contribution to the TQM implementation, so that, they could contribute to the cause and yield the maximize results. Training on TQM is a good resource to understand the individual contribution to the process (Duran, Çetindere & ?ahan, 2014).   

The needs assessment must be properly planned, so that, it yields the productive results. In case, if it is not planned or executed properly, will yield the following consequences:

Unproductive learning environment: This can happen if needs assessment is not properly planned or executed appropriately. This really can be unproductive to the process. There can be the possibilities that wrong people are trained on the right skills. It means to select an appropriate match for the training. This should not be the case that those who are not capable of performing or taking part in the Six-Sigma process, they are entertained. It is the responsibilities of the management that they identify a correct set of people for the Six-Sigma process (Karahan & Mete, 2014). Additionally, there must be a healthy environment for learning where people are encouraged to exchange the knowledge. It means knowledge management is important for infusing a continuous learning process in the system. A continuous learning process is a potential way to identify the issues on a regular basis (Karahan & Mete, 2014).  

Conducting Effective Need Analysis for Training

Wrong way of learning: The management must have an understanding of the process which is required to infuse the learning environment. They must know the feasible ways of learning. If employees are not comfortable with the verbal training or they think it as a waste of time, management must go with incepting the non-verbal training such as the kind of presentation process. The non-verbal training can also be effectively conducted with the help of tables or graphical presentation (Manuti et al., 2015). The identification of the feasible training approach will yield the list of positive benefits. This helps to avoid the unnecessary times which could easily be consumed while going the wrong way (Sung & Choi, 2014). A wrong approach means the shuffling of the entire process which was based on the initially adopted process for training. This also hampers the business productivity as the training will last for the unnecessary amount of period. This is indeed important to get the training executed within a very short span of time, so that, the learning could be applied and results are obtained. In the incrementing competition in the hotel industry, this is important that any change or implementation process is taken care with extreme speed (Soto-Acosta, Popa & Palacios-Marqués, 2016).  

Conclusion

herefore, the training needs assessment is mandatory before the conduction of training. This is due to the importance of appropriately identifying the areas of improvement. This is equally important to identify the methods for training. The methods of training must also be feasible with the organizational resources. The evaluation of the needs assessment process is also necessary to understand whether the training is important. The training must also be appropriately planned, so that, it does not go the wrong way.

References

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